Rent rage Rabia por las rentas

Rent rage

Story and photos by Mónica Barnkow

“Our voices have to be heard,” said Senator Adriano Espaillat.

Time is almost up.

With New York State rent regulations laws set to expire in days, elected officials, community leaders and residents gathered for an uptown housing forum at the Washington Heights Academy this past Thurs., May 28th.

The gathering, hosted by State Senator Adriano Espaillat, sought to brief residents on affordable housing and rent regulation issues – and what comes next.

The panel consisted of representatives from different organizations who provided an overview of current regulations, landlords’ responsibilities and tenants’ rights.

“It is important to fight,” said Rodrigo Sánchez-Camus, Supervising Attorney for the Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation (NMIC). “It is important to keep informed in order to protect your rights.”

The regulations are determined by legislators in the State Assembly and Senate and Governor Andrew Cuomo in Albany.

Approximately 2.5 million New Yorkers live in rent-regulated housing, which includes both “rent-controlled” and “rent-stabilized” apartments.

Pointing out the facts.

Rent increases are set by a government agency and tenants in rent-regulated housing have greater legal protections than those living in market-rate housing.

For an apartment to be under rent control, the tenant (or the tenant’s family, if the apartment has been passed down to a qualified family member) must have been living in that apartment continuously since before July 1, 1971. When a rent-controlled apartment becomes vacant, it either becomes rent-stabilized, or, if it is in a building with fewer than six units, it is generally removed from regulation. Rent-stabilized apartments are in buildings built before 1974, have six or more apartments, and the rent upon moving in is below $2,500 per month. Apartments can also become rent-stabilized if a developer utilizes certain tax incentive programs, including J-51 or 421-a.

According to the NYC Rent Guidelines Board, as of 2011, rent-stabilized apartments comprised approximately 59% of rental apartments in the Bronx, 43% of apartments in Brooklyn, 45% of Manhattan apartments, 42% of Queens apartments, and 15% of Staten Island apartments.

The laws were last revisited by legislators in 2011.

Then, landlords were allowed to deregulate apartments when tenants’ rent and income reach certain thresholds. Thresholds were raised from $2,000 a month to $2,500 a month – so that once the rent of a regulated apartment hit $2,500, it became unregulated – and the threshold of annual household income rose from $200,000 from $175,000. Also, landlords were compelled to document more of the funding spent to improve rent-stabilized apartments before looking to pass those costs to renters.

“It is important to fight,” said NMIC’s Rodrigo Sánchez-Camus.

Since the passage of those 2011 laws, 35,000 apartments have been deregulated.

And if no substantial changes in regulations are put into effect by June’s deadline, it is expected that as many as 1.5 million affordable units will be lost, and tenants consequently displaced.

Espaillat is the Ranker on the Senate’s Housing Committee, and his district, which encompasses Northern Manhattan and the Bronx, is comprised of 87,000 rent regulated apartments.

This was the first in a series of public forums he is hosting throughout the district.

Espaillat cast the legislative battle ahead as one dominated by politics and the real estate sector’s special interests, and predicted that the passage of stricter rent laws would be challenged by the Republican-dominated State Senate.

“Landlords have invested millions of dollars in the last elections to maintain a majority in the Senate,” charged Espaillat.

Councilmember Ydanis Rodríguez agreed.

“The resources that the real estate sector [have] invested in politics puts us on an uphill struggle,” said Rodriguez.

Nonetheless, advocates argued that it was imperative for tenants to organize and press their case.

“We have the power,” said Luis Tejada, Executive Director of the Mirabal Sisters Cultural and Community Center.

An action agenda which included rallies in Albany and in front of Gov. Cuomo’s office building, in Midtown Manhattan.

“It is important to take more aggressive action,” said Ava Farkas, Executive Director of the Metropolitan Council in Housing.

Farkas specifically urged tenants to be proactive and call their legislators, and to join rallies that the Met Council is helping to organize, including one planned in the state’s capital on June 15th.

“We are going to escalate this fight,” she pledged. “And we invite everyone to join.”

“We have the power,” added Luis Tejada, Founder and Executive Director of the Mirabal Sisters Cultural and Community Center. “There is no excuse not to be in Albany on June 15th. We need to strengthen our community and the only way to do so is to mobilize.”

Espaillat concurred that it was critical to keep the pressure on.

“We are going to keep on losing rent-stabilized apartments [if we don’t act],” said Espaillat. “Our voices have to be heard.”

A second Community Housing Forum will be held on Thurs., June 4th at 6:30 p.m. at Fort George Presbyterian Church, located at 1525 St. Nicholas Avenue and 186th Street. For more information, please call 212.544.0173.

ACTION STEPS

The Metropolitan Council on Housing offers these action steps for tenants:

Call Governor Cuomo in Albany at 518.474.8390 and in New York at681.4580 and express concern about raising the vacancy decontrol threshold to $2700 and the need to strengthen tenants’ rights. For more talking points, visit: http://www.strongerrentlaws.com/.

On Mon., Jun. 8th, join tenants to demand a rent rollback before the Manhattan Rent Guidelines Board hearing at the CUNY Graduate Center, located at 365 Fifth Ave at 34th Street from 2 – 6 p.m. For more information, please send an email to ilana@metcouncilonhousing.org.

On Tues., Jun. 9th, the Met Council is organizing a “Tenant Takeover of Albany,” in which over 1,000 tenants are being bused up to Albany. Buses will leave from around the city. To reserve a seat and for more information, please send an email to r.mcdonald@gmail.com.

Flyers are being distributed throughout the city to help raise awareness; specific targets include areas around Assemblymembers’ district offices, and train and bus stops during rush hour. For more information, please send an email to mia.r.mcdonald@gmail.com.